法律专家对司法部长威廉·巴尔不会回避针对亿万富翁和所谓的性交易者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的新案件的报道表示担忧。
巴尔周二决定不回避自己,在与司法部职业道德官员评估情况后,一名匿名的司法部官员告诉包括彭博和美国有线电视新闻网在内的媒体。巴尔昨天说,他已经退出了这个案子,因为爱泼斯坦过去曾聘请过柯克兰&埃利斯·LLP律师事务所的律师,巴尔以前曾在该事务所担任律师。
然而,巴尔仍将被排除在10多年前司法部决定的任何回顾性审查之外,该决定允许在佛罗里达州面临联邦性交易犯罪指控的爱泼斯坦逃避联邦指控。
爱泼斯坦的案件引起了更大的关注,因为特朗普的劳工部长亚历克斯·阿科斯塔是迈阿密的最高联邦检察官,并批准了一项有争议的协议,允许爱泼斯坦对两项州政府招妓指控认罪。爱泼斯坦在佛罗里达州的一所监狱服刑13个月,但大部分时间都被释放去做生意。
对巴尔不愿回避的报道感到震惊的前联邦检察官中有咪咪·罗卡,她曾在纽约南区担任助理律师。
“这里画的线没有意义。这非常令人担忧,”罗卡在推特上写道,他也是美国国家广播公司新闻和MSNBC法律分析师。
在《每日野兽报》周一发表的一篇评论文章中,罗卡写道,巴尔可能会干涉新的爱泼斯坦案件,因为他是整个司法部的负责人,包括纽约南区,她开玩笑地称之为“主权”区。
罗卡写道:“尽管这么说让我很痛苦,但鉴于巴尔过去的行为更多的是作为特朗普的辩护律师,而不是司法监督员,我担心巴尔可能会干涉,如果他认为爱泼斯坦可能会牵连到特朗普,他是爱泼斯坦的朋友。”。
罗卡指出,巴尔在确认听证会上表示,由于柯克兰和埃利斯的关系,他可能会回避与爱泼斯坦有关的问题。“现在是知道巴尔是否坚持到底的好时机,”罗卡写道。
特朗普在20世纪80年代末遇到爱泼斯坦,2002年称他是一个“了不起的家伙”,并说“他和我一样喜欢漂亮的女人,而且其中许多都是年轻的一方。”周二,特朗普表示,在闹翻之后,他已经大约15年没有和爱泼斯坦说过话,并表示他“不喜欢”这位对冲基金经理。 特朗普补充称,阿科斯塔“只是一名优秀的劳工部长”,他将“非常密切地”关注爱泼斯坦的第一个案子。
纽约南区美国检察官杰弗里·伯曼于2019年7月8日在纽约市宣布对杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的指控。爱泼斯坦将被控一项贩卖未成年人的性犯罪和一项合谋贩卖未成年人的性犯罪。斯蒂芬妮·基思/盖蒂
前联邦和州检察官埃利·霍尼格也是美国有线电视新闻网的法律分析师,他周二认为巴尔回避自己“是个麻烦”
霍尼格在推特上写道:“我对巴尔会让这一案件自然发展毫无信心,如果它开始牵连或对有权势、有政治关系的人造成附带损害的话。”。
Legal experts have raised concerns over a report that Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from a new case against billionaire and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Barr decided Tuesday against recusing himself, after assessing the situation with career ethics officials at the Department of Justice, an anonymous department official told media outlets including Bloomberg and CNN. Barr said yesterday that he had removed himself from the case as Epstein in the past retained attorneys from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where Barr previously worked as counsel.
However, Barr will remain recused from any retrospective review of the Justice Department's decision more than a decade ago that allowed Epstein, who faced allegations of federal sex trafficking offenses in Florida, to avoid federal charges.
Epstein's case has drawn even great scrutiny because Trump's Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was the top federal prosecutor in Miami and approved the controversial deal letting Epstein plead guilty to two state charges of soliciting a prostitute. Epstein served 13 months in a prison in Florida but was released to conduct business most days.
Among former federal prosecutors alarmed at the reports that Barr would not recuse himself is Mimi Rocah, who served as an assistant attorney in the Southern District of New York.
"The line being drawn here makes no sense. This is very concerning," tweeted Rocah, who also serves as an NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst.
In an opinion piece published in the Daily Beast Monday, Rocah wrote that Barr could run interference in the new Epstein case because he is the head of the whole Justice Department, including the Southern District of New York, which she said is playfully called the "Sovereign" district.
"While it pains me to say this, given Barr's conduct in the past acting more as a defense attorney for Trump than an overseer of justice, I am concerned that Barr might interfere if he thought that Epstein might implicate Trump, who was friends with Epstein," Rocah wrote.
Rocah noted that Barr in his confirmation hearings said he might recuse himself from matters relating to Epstein because of the Kirkland & Ellis affiliation. "Now would be a good time to know if Barr followed through on that," Rocah wrote.
Trump met Epstein in the late 1980s and in 2002 called him a "terrific guy" and said "he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." On Tuesday, Trump said he had not spoken to Epstein in about 15 years after a falling out and said he was "not a fan" of the hedge fund manager. Trump added that Acosta has been "just an excellent secretary of labor" and that he will be looking "very closely" at Epstein's first case.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.STEPHANIE KEITH/GETTY
Former federal and state prosecutor Elie Honig, who also serves as a CNN legal analyst, opined Tuesday that Barr recusing himself "is trouble."
"I have zero confidence Barr will let this case play out in its natural course if it should start to implicate or do collateral damage to powerful, politically-connected people," Honig tweeted.
